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Cox Sued For Not Doing Enough* About Piracy

Cox Communications has been sued for not doing enough to stop piracy -- at least according to BMG Rights Management of Berlin and Round Hill Music of New York. According to the complaint, the companies claim Cox is well aware of piracy occurring on its network, but is turning a blind eye to the practice of the company's roughly 4 million broadband subscribers. The complaint insists that Cox is aware of "repeat infringement by its subscribers" but is not terminating their accounts because "it would cause Cox to lose revenue."

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As a private company, Cox Communications is one of the few companies that refused to participate in the entertainment industry's "six strikes" anti-piracy initiative, which involves piracy counter-measures ranging from throttling a user's connection to temporary filters preventing users from browsing unless they acknowledge receipt of "educational" copyright material.

Though since 2008 we've noted that Cox has had an anti-piracy program of their own in play, which includes repeated notices for infringement. Cox also terminates the accounts of repeat offenders, but the company has told me they believe the total number of booted users accounts for less than 1% of the company's entire customer base.

Both BMB and Round Hill help fund the copyright troll Rightscorp, which has been trying to turn copyright infringement notices into a revenue stream, sending accused pirates letters telling them they can avoid court battles if they just pay a $20 fee. A growing number of smaller ISPs are treating these notices like little more than aggressive spam.

Complaint Cox


Most recommended from 40 comments



Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
Premium Member
join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA
·Comcast XFINITY

5 recommendations

Zenit_IIfx

Premium Member

lolololol

Reading the complaint was hilarious:

"Cox provides its subscribers and account holders with a fully functioning system that allows them to engage in copyright infringement using BitTorrent systems on a massive scale. And for those account holders and subscribers who want to pirate
larger files at faster speeds. Cox obliges them for higher rates.The greater the bandwidthits subscribers require for pirating content, the more money Cox makes.
"

What does Rightscorp want? Cox only provide a 300 baud analog data transmission carrier? Of course they offer higher speeds for customers to purchase, they are a TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY.

I guess the copyright lobby wants us all to use 300 baud analog modems and only surf their approved text portals.

I want Cox to win this. These trolls are just that - trolls. Piracy is a legitimate problem but it will NEVER go away. Update your business practices, bring your prices in line with what your customers expect...don't hold back the world with your 20th century business model.
quisp65
join:2003-05-03
San Diego, CA

3 recommendations

quisp65

Member

This lawsuit has got a snowball chance in hell

This lawsuit is implying that an ISP has to implement punishment to their customer base at the will of an organization that didn't go through the proper legal channels to determine guilt or remedy. I don't really expect this to go far.

Harddrive
Proud American and Infidel since 1968.
Premium Member
join:2000-09-20
Fort Worth, TX

3 recommendations

Harddrive

Premium Member

Sue Ford Motor Company...

because some drunk bastard slammed his F250 into a school bus. Sounds logical.

Bagnon
Snoogans
join:2000-11-19
Hamilton, ON

2 recommendations

Bagnon

Member

And so it begins

Not sure if something like this has happened before for such a large company but considering what's going on with net neutrality and the lack of fore sight by the industry I do hope Cox comes out with a win.

The industry needs to wake up. To long it has been with the status quo. Time to evolve, entertainment industry.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

2 recommendations

battleop

Member

Screw them...

Our ARIN WHOIS clearly states that these notices should go to our abuse address. Yet some how they managed to get my work email address to send them to. Since they can't follow very clear instructions those emails go straight to my junk folder. When they do follow our very clear instructions we do our part by forwarding the email to the end user but that's it. We don't respond to the troll that sent it we just do exactly what we are supposed to do.

It's not our job to play internet nanny.